He hated his job. He really did, he wouldn't trade the gruff Militaristic way of life he was raised in but this assignment was one of the worst he had ever been given. He was all right with working with crew from the other colonies and alliances that made up the Galaxy. Especially when he was told he would be working with the best and brightest, apparently that also meant complete pain in the arses with no respect for protocol or apparently chain of command. "It is common sense that when asking for permission to enter the bridge, Mr. Itztli." He turned back around to face the man who had entered the bridge. "I am inclined to take us to the first system on the list as soon as Miss. Buchanan has got back to me. I feel it is the best chance of us finding a habitable planet capable of sustaining human life. We can deploy a beacon and have it saved in case of a catastrophic failure of the ship and need to evacuate or alternatively if we find something important later in the Galaxy we will be able to relay the co-ordinates off this planet to be the main point of ingress from the Milkyway to act as a good base."

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[b]1 Year Ago.[/b]

"...It's a command. Your own vessel, your own crew. You'll be the boss with very little scrutiny from the higher ups. She'll be your ship Andrew.""That isn't the point." He leaned back in his chair looking into the face of his wife. They had met when serving together and after fighting together for several years the relationship advanced and now they were happily married with two kids and their first grandchild on the way. "I won't be coming back from this. That is the point in this.""But think about it, you'll be seeing things nobody else has ever seen. That no-one else has ever dreamed off seeing!" He chuckled at this slightly. "You almost sound jealous, you always were the explorer. This assignment should be yours and you know it." She waved him away at this. "I left the service years ago. They wouldn't take me back and even if they did I never had the aptitude score that you have, besides you know you need to do this." He shrugged. "If I deny this my military career is over but at least I will stay here. What about Sandy, she's about to have her first kid I can't miss that." She placed her hand over his, and he turned it up and squeezed her hand lightly.

"You'll always be able to see us, to speak to us. We're not going anywhere. You need to do this, think of what it will do for the family. The money, the fame. It will help the kids dramatically in their career. I know you hate that it works that way but it does. Family matters." He sighed, she played the family card. That would get him to kick it into gear. "I'll do it, but. I-" She smiled and he could see a tear at the corner of her eye. "I know."

[b]Present Day[/b]

While he had been caught off guard by the reverie he shook it off as he turned his chair to look back out of the main view port, casting a glance briefly at an older photograph of him with his wife and two daughters. Smiling slightly as he did so he looked back out. "The real deal is we need to make sure that we know where we can call safe harbor and command is interested in finding anything useful and that includes worlds habitable and available to colonize. Some of the corporations have high hopes as they believe that there is bound to be something out here, so don't want us to find something then not be able to give them a target world to send the colony ship a soon as we find something of value they will likely begin preparations." He looked back at the console. "ALICE.""Yes Captain.""I'd like you to prepare a drill for tomorrow morning, oh-six-hundred hours.""Yes sir, what type of scenario would you like." He took a moment to think off this. "Hull breach scenario, engine failure." He wasn't really paying attention to the other man on the bridge at the moment but he cast his head in the mans direction. "I'll forward you my log later this evening. For now I want you to go to Engineering and get the full system report from the jump and compile it to send in our daily update."
 
He turned away from the man. "Dismissed."